The Whisper of the Night
by Firekitty88
Summary: Warning- Toothcup. Happens after Toothless gets captured by Vikings. (My first fanfic :( )
1. Chapter 1

Chapter one

The wind was unusually still, betraying the usual chilly climate of Berk. It was pitch black in the arena, just as dark as the souls that crept around it. The moon was a silver of sliver in the darkness, and the light was reflecting off the bars of the cage-like arena. The vikings usually gathered in the great hall to speak of important things, but when blood may be spilled, they tended to gather in the dragon killing academy.

Which made one in particular dreadfully nervous.

The center of attention was not quite clear. Was it the small boy standing in the arena, dressed in tatters and longish brown hair? Or was it the semi-barbaric chief who sat proudly on his throne as he down at his son.

"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III."

The boy shifted nervously and raised his head.

Stoick spoke in a low voice. "Hiccup. You have done something most despicable, and something that no viking has ever done before. You have shown and it can be proven that you have an alliance with our greatest enemy! I have spoken of your deeds with the council" Now the chief's speech rose in volume, and he was even tempted to stand and shout. But he continued on, in the same tone: "The elder, Gobbler, Spitelout and I have decided your punishment for befriending .." the chief blanched suddenly and shuddered involuntarily in disgust.

"...a night fury."

Many of the audience booed and shouted insults at Hiccup, who only ignored them. But on the inside, he felt pain build up inside of in, so if he was ever going to to asked to speak, he would have a hard time doing so. He look ed at the ground as the vikings jeered at him.

"Hiccup! You screw up!"

"How dare you?!"

"I knew that you'd never made it!"

"Spitelout and I have thought that you should be sent to blood eagle." roared Stoick over the noise. "But the elder one and Gobbler told me it would be better to give you a second chance."

Now, many of the vikings had truly thought that the blood eagle was such a heavy punishment for the boy, but all of them believed that he should not get a last chance. "A lighter punishment would suffice," They ultimately said. "But a second chance? Surely not!" Hiccup however, had lost whatever color that was in his face. His father wanted to kill him... Hiccup felt horrible. Did his father really feel that betrayed?

Hiccup looked toward the ground, his heart beating uncontrollably. It really wan't his fault if his dragon loved him more than his own people, was it? He then longed for his dragon. He wished badly that his precious dragon was alright.

"Toothless…" Hiccup moaned in his mind. "I'd do whatever it takes to get to you…I need you so bad…" Hiccup's eyes turned moist, and he brushed his tears away with the back of his hand.

Meanwhile, there was order in the arena, and all heads turned to the chief.

"What we ask of you," Stoick reassured Hiccup, "isn't much." It doesn't have to do with strength, a skill that you lack, (there were snickers heard throughout the crowd), but, we you to just prove your loyalty to us."

Hiccup's heart skipped a beat, and he pressed his sweating hands together. He could probably do this. He listened expectantly.

Meanwhile, in the deserted village, Astrid was in her room. Early that morning she had been contemplating on if she should go to Hiccup's trial or not. The fact that it would take place in the arena made her too scared to go. In her fear of blood there was none. In her carelessness there was none. It was a difficult decision for her to make. She was only horrified as images flashed through her mind of Hiccup strewn across the floor, covered in blood and barely breathing.

That Hiccup was more than a friend to her, she was sure. That she believed that the dragon loved Hiccup more, she was also positive.

 _It was strange._ She thought. _That a dragon could love a human._ Nethertheless, Astrid did not question this. She figured that if she never knew that dragons weren't bloodthirsty creatures, like she did days ago, then it couldn't be right for her to decide who a dragon would want for a mate. But she did swear that it was strange. Yes, this she could not put out of her head.

 _Very strange indeed..._

Astrid was so deep in her thoughts that she did not notice Ruffnut, who was usually loud, walking up behind her.

"Astrid."

"AH!" She spun around quickly, and then, seeing who it was, she sighed. "Ruffnut. What are you doing here?" It was odd that Tuffnut wasn't with her. She told her so.

"I don't know where he is." Ruffnut breathed in a serious tone. (Which was very unlike her personality.) "He wasn't at our house, or at our wet and muddy place-"

"Seriously? Wet and muddy place? That's dumb." Astrid tried to speak like herself to ignore the uneasy fluttering in her chest. But all was in vain.

"Hey. It's out place. We played hide and go kill there when we were little kids! Anyway, I searched everywhere. Couldn't find him."

"You must be really worried. He's your other half to you."

Ruffnut frowned, then shrugged. Like Astrid, she was trying to hide her fear with her normal self. " Nah. Once I was on fire and he didn't do anything. I could care less to what he was up to."

"Really."

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

Ruffnut frowned and shrugged. "Ya. Anyways, do you want to hear about Hiccup or not?"

Astrid leaned forward intently. "Hiccup? Is something wrong? Did they hurt him? Di d they kill- nonononono... the father would never allow that but-"

"Hey Astrid. Calm down. He's gonna be alright. He's gonna get another chance."

Astrid looked up. "Another chance? Are you serious?" That was rather unexpected. The Vikings didn't do well with change. "Why? What did they say?"

"Just... you know... that dragon that he likes?"

"Yes? What's going to happen to him?'

"Ya. The dragon that he likes... Hiccup's gonna have to kill him."


	2. Chapter 2

"Kill the night fury."

Hiccup's mouth dropped open as he stared at his father, hoping, dearly praying that he had heard wrong. "W-wha…"

"You heard me," sneered Stoick, clearly annoyed that Hiccup was acting so dumbfounded, especially now. Surely Hiccup couldn't feel tempted to save his… so called friend with his life was he? Who was to be that loyal at all? To especially the enemy. "I want you to kill the dragon...or…" Did he have to be more clear? Maybe he was just dumb…"Er.. whatever you called him… Toothless…"

"I know his name father."

Father. Stoick sneered again. "You call me Stoick, boy. Nothing more and nothing less."

Hiccup swallowed. "When do I- I …"

Stoick took a breath. There was a pause, and a glance at the stony faced spectators. " That would be n-"

At that precise moment, Gobbler quickly limped forward to whisper in Stoick's ear. Why he said and what his intention was, no one knew. But it seemed to change Stoick's mind, for he pursed his lips and what Gobbler said and nodded.

"That ...would be a time later, Hiccup. My council and I have more… " he frowned thoughtfully at Gobbler. "...things to discuss." He got up from his throne and marched quickly after Gobbler, much to Hiccup's surprise.

… My dad doesn't just walk from important meetings like this. It's not like him to do this Hiccup thought. There must be something very wrong.

Many of the spectators were groaning in disappointment that they didn't get to see any blood.

"That was one of the worst fights ever." A older girl shoved through a group of vikings and grabbed the bars of the arena to glare at Hiccup. "Of course, what would anyone expect from you?"

"Nightshade." Hiccup gasped in surprise, but he quickly collected himself and he glared at her. "What the hell are you doing here?"

She smirked, swinging herself through the bars so that she ended up next to Hiccup. "Language. Seriously, don't even try to imitate the likes of me."

"Why would I ever want to be like you? You were the one who ran away when Gobbler was trying to recruit us to become warriors! Why would you do that? Astrid only liked you out of the whole gang and she was crushed!"

"Don't talk about Astrid,' Nightshade's eyes gleamed. "Or I will pulverise you. Come with me."

"I don't want to-"

"Or I will kill you. Hurry."

"Hiccup could never do that." Astrid gasped. "Never ever in his life…"

"Well that's really bad." Ruffnut muttered in an offhand way. "Anyway...I was hoping if you could help me find my brother."

"You said that you didn't care."

Ruffnut frowned. 'I did not."

Astrid sighed. "Whatever."

"Okay. Fine, I did. But the only reason why I'm interested, is because the last time I saw him, he was really excited to talk to the chief!"

"Stoick? Why in the name of Thor would Tuffnut want to talk to him for?"

"I dunno. But he was really excited, and the only things that make us excited is killing and explosions and really disturbing things."

"Why does that not surprise me?"

"So… I didn't see him after that. He just went with Stoick…"

" But you saw Stoick at Hiccup's trial right?"

"Ya…but I didn't stay very long."

"...Ruffnut. I really don't really know how to think about this. You know Tuffnut more than I do, so try to think like him… which shouldn't be very hard. But I have other things to worry about." Astrid got up from the bed and retrieved her ax.

"What would that be?"

"I need to figure out if Hiccup is okay."

"So you're friends with a night fury, eh?" Nightshade muttered. "I don't know how you pulled this off without dying, but okay."

Hiccup stared without Nightshade without any expression. Camly, simply he spoke: "I leaving Berk. If I have to live without Toothless, I won't live at all."

"Huh." the girl's hair started to sway in the wind. 'Funny how you said that."

"I'm serious." Hiccup said between clenched teeth. "I cannot live without him."

" I think it's rather stupid though." Nightshade laughed. "I mean, you go through so much for just one soul. That's just… insane."

"What's so hard to understand about it?" Hiccup cried, growing agitated. "And why would you threaten to kill me if you just wanted me to walk into the woods with you?"

Nightshade smirked and circled the small boy like a shark. "I just see how Stoick cares how little about you now. How little he would care if you died." She grinned at him again.

"Are you going to kill me?" Hiccup breathed.

Nightshade took out her knife and quickly pounced on him, her hands at Hiccup's wrists to insure that he wouldn't escape. "To bad your little dragon won't ever see you alive."

Hiccup's breathing went shallow. " I want Toothless.'

"Oh yes." she giggled. "He didn't do much for you though."

"I want to see him."

"Idiot. You really won't give up."

"You wouldn't understand even if I told you what I felt."

" Alright, smart boy." she snapped, brushing her knife past Hiccup's small white wrist. "Tell me. It'll be your last words anyway."

"Why should I say? No one cares about you."

Nightshade cursed and stabbed Hiccup's open hand and he screamed. "Please! Let go of me!"

"In your dreams, dragonboy."

Hiccup closed his eyes as his vision went foggy. His eyes were moist, and he wanted to cry. But he struggled to show no more weakness as he already had and did what he did best: he endured.

I can only wonder how you is doing. And if there should be a reason why I would die, it shouldn't be a petty thing like this. I'm sorry Toothless. I love you and I care so much for you and I would do anything for you but I'm weak and I can't fight.

I'm so sorry.


	3. Chapter 3

There was a musty scent in the cell, which agitated the night fury. Not only that, but it was damp and cold. In the darkness, two green eyes glared at its surroundings. Not that he could see much, but he just happened to have echolocation, which usually helped him from getting trapped like this.

But not this time.

Toothless fired at the door of his cage, but it remained unscathed. Toothless snorted and whipped around, his back facing the door. Never in his life had he be more exasperated than this. Not only were the conditions of the place he was trapped in was bad, but the idiotic humans had captured him, he was hungry, and of course…

Toothless spat another plasma blast at the door in rage. How long was he going to be here anyways? How was he going to protect the one he loved most? He should of saved Hiccup and escaped with him, Toothless realized. There was no doubt that there was no rationalization that had occurred to him when he had heard Hiccup screaming. His mind had just went blank into a very different kind of feeling. It was not fear really, it was rather that mixed with love with a fierceness. He had a fiery motive. He hardly realized that he was attacking one of his own tribe of dragons. But when he was certain when Hiccup was safe- his Hiccup was safe… that was when careened back into reality.

And then he was surrounded by Vikings.

…

I could have killed the stupid leader… Toothless wailed to himself. I could have kept Hiccup and the other dragons safe! He wanted to kill him… he seriously did. He had opened his mouth and the fire was crawling out of his throat...

But Hiccup had been crying out for him not to kill him, and he had to stop. It was certain that Hiccup cared for Stoick. But as Toothless was being dragged into his cage, he had seen Stoick drag Hiccup by his neck away from the others. That the man did not return his affections to the boy… that was certain.

...You stupid Viking. If you even put one scratch on my human, then I will totally slaughter you.

Waves crashed on the shores of Berk. The smell of the ocean swept in the air and slipped through the rocks. Closer to land, in the forest, Astrid was searching for Hiccup. Trees whispered into the wind, and it was very quiet, which would normally put one at ease.

Not Astrid. Oh, dear Odin. It did everything but put her at ease. She glared into the dark, and she suspiciously gripped her ax tightly. She began to run.

She swiftly traveled through the forest, her footsteps hardly making any noise. She passed trees that had large gashes in the them. They were the victims of her fighting practices.

If I find that someone hurt Hiccup. Astrid thought darkly, then I will make sure that whoever did it will end up like those trees.

She rushed deeper into the darkness. Presently, there was a small shriek heard not so far away. She listened carefully, and struggled to remain calm. But inside, her heart began to race in an uneven, dangerous pattern. She stood there, quite certain that the one who had shrieked was most certainly Hiccup. At the very instant she figured this out, she broke into a run once again, heading towards the noise.

Exactly 600 meters away was Nightshade, who was trying not to laugh as she kicked the boy onto his side. His hands were scraped due to his feeble attempts to get up, but he might as well be battling the Monstrous Nightmare again.

The black haired girl kicked him several times, who was obviously toying with him now. "Your fear gives me the most pleasure I've had in a long time," she sighed. "It certainly brings back memories."

Hiccup clenched his teeth, knowing that it was pointless to try to fight back. But he did what he did best: he endured.

" Since you're going to die anyway," Nightshade mused. "I guess I will just tell you about my plans." Her knife was in her hand, the steel stained with blood, fresh and dried alike. She stopped her beatings for a moment and stared at at the brown-haired boy without pity. "Your father isn't on my side, and I will kill him soon. But I did choose an idiot to work for me, and he carries out my plans very nicely."

"Who is he?" Hiccup croaked. He was close to death, so he might as well find out. "What's his name?'

Nightshade smirked and was about to answer when a blond girl halted right behind her, eyes flashing with malice. "YOU!"

Nightshade looked up in shock. "Wha-what are you doing here?" She backed away.

Why is she so afraid of Astrid Hiccup thought through his daze. When they were younger, she was more skilled than Astrid…

Astrid stepped forward and looked as if she wanted to kill Nightshade. She ground her teeth and held out her ax threatenly. "Get out." she hissed, her voice cool enough to freeze the forest. She took another step toward her.

Nightshade collected herself and hid her nervousness with her classic sneer. "As you wish, princess." She turned and ran into the night, her black hair flying out behind her.

Astrid, to Hiccup's surprise, didn't even lay a finger on her. But he saw the sadness in Astrid's eyes and knew that there was something more to this than what met the eye. She turned to him and helped him up. he could stand, but was rather shaky in doing this. They decided to think of what they would do next, as they walked through the forest.

" You could try making the others see reason," Astrid offered. "And then everyone would forgive you."

"Like that would ever work." Hiccup snorted. "I already tried that, and now my father wants to kill me. I think it would be better if I left with…" Hiccup suddenly jumped up in surprise. "...Toothless! I-I should really hurry."

"You mean we should hurry." Astrid corrected. "We're in this together. But Hiccup, are you sure you want to do this?"

"Positive." Hiccup's voice was unusually flat. "This was never a home to me."

They walked in silence, Astrid's heart pounding in her ears.

"I'll visit you."

He would? Even with such a risk? Her heart swelled with joy, but she only calmly stated, "That would be nice."

It was quiet for a while longer.

All of the sudden, a cry was heard in the forest, a human's endless wail from not so far away. This set Astrid running again, with Hiccup stumbling behind.

When reached the scene, they gasped in abject terror and shock. Blood was spilled everywhere onto the dirt, making the ground the color of red clay. Snotlout was standing behind the bloody figure, his eyes shining with pride but his mouth was a thin line. In his hand there was a sword, and next to him was Ruffnut, frozen in disgust and shock.

"No." she stepped forward and fell onto her knees. "Now how- how will we ever..? Who will be…?"

Snotlout stepped away from the dead body and muttered, "That was easier than I thought it would be."

There was a tense silence from those circled around the killer.

"Snotlout, why did you do that?" Astrid whispered. "I don't understand."

Hiccup only swallowed and looked at the dead face of Tuffnut Thorston.


End file.
